Walking through the gardens of Terry and Genie Graham is like a stroll back in time. Their home and property located at 8603 Van Wyck Road date back to over 135 years ago.

Though it has experienced changes over the decades, the yard is still filled with many of the original plants. By blending a little of yesterday and today, they have created a beautiful homeplace filled with blooms throughout the year.

This year they also added a huge bulb garden filled with thousands of tulips, daffodils and hyacinths as well as their first crop of strawberries.

For the third year in a row the saucer magnolia in our backyard lost hundreds of ready-to-open blooms to sudden below-freezing night temperatures.

According to Steve Bender writing in “Southern Living,” this is a situation that regularly occurs about two springs in three. Still, it is very disheartening to see the lovely waxy buds that are pinkish-purple outside and white inside turn an unlovely brown. The poor tree will keep trying to replace the frozen blooms for months.

Quantifiable data shows that reducing stress and brain fatigue is as simple as taking a walk in the park.

According to a study by researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh, people who live near trees and parks have lower levels of stress hormones and improved concentration. The study appeared this month in The British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Back in April 2007 when Mike and Mashalle Bailesfirst purchased their home at 930 Sherwood Circle, they realized the house and yard needed a little attention. With the windows of the house almost covered in overgrown hollies, English ivy and the thorny spikes of ileagnes throughout the yard, the Bailes had to make a few choices.

Many of the shrubs were removed and replaced with slower growing lower maintenance varieties such as nandina.